OFFICIAL NAME	Repiblik Dayti (Haitian Creole); République d’Haïti (French) (Republic of Haiti)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT	Republic with two legislative houses (Senate [30]; Chamber of Deputies [99])
CHIEF OF STATE	President
HEAD OF GOVERNMENT	Prime Minister
CAPITAL	Port-au-Prince
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES	Haitian Creole; French
OFFICIAL RELIGIONS	Roman Catholicism has special recognition per concordat with the Vatican; voodoo became officially sanctioned per governmental decree of April 2003
MONETARY UNIT	Gourde (G)
POPULATION ESTIMATE (2007)	9,598,000
TOTAL AREA (Square Miles)	10,695
TOTAL AREA (Square Kilometres)	27,700

Where is Haiti?

 

Haiti is bordered to the east by the Dominican Republic, which covers the rest of Hispaniola, to the west and south by the Caribbean, and to the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Cuba lies some 50 miles (80 km) west of Haiti’s northern peninsula, across the Windward Passage, a corridor joining the Atlantic to the Caribbean. Jamaica is some 120 miles (190 km) west of the southern peninsula, across the Jamaica Channel, and Great Inagua Island (of The Bahamas) lies roughly 70 miles (110 km) to the north. Haiti claims sovereignty over Navassa (Navase) Island, a U.S.-controlled islet in the Jamaica Channel.

 

 

Where is Pignon, Haiti?

 

Pignon, Haiti is a small, improverished town in the Central Plateau of Haiti, about 40 miles south of Cap-Haitien. It is a town of 30,000 with no public electricity, and only about 200 households have running water in their homes. There is very little economic activity in the town. The main industries are small-scale farming and small retail shops located outside people’s homes. Government services are almost non-existent and the roads are terrible.
Due to the lack of economic activity in the town, many of the residents need to get basic supplies from Cap-Haitien (4 hours away) or the Dominican Republic (8 hours away). Most of the people live in poorly constructed homes without proper sanitation and suffer from malnutrition.

 

 

History of Haiti

The native Taino Amerindians - who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when it was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 - were virtually annihilated by Spanish settlers within 25 years. In the early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola, and in 1697, Spain ceded the western third of the island to the French, which later became Haiti.
The French colony, based on forestry and sugar-related industries, became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean, but only through the heavy importation of African slaves and considerable environmental degradation. In the late 18th century, Haiti´s nearly half million slaves revolted under Toussaint L´Ouverture. After a prolonged struggle, Haiti became the first black republic to declare its independence in 1804. The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has been plagued by political violence for most of its history.

 

Haiti Today

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty. Haiti’s limited resource base has been depleted, first through intensive colonial exploitation and later through unplanned development and corruption.  Agriculture dominates the economy, but the food supply has not kept pace with demand. As much as one-fifth of the food consumed in Haiti is imported or smuggled from the Dominican Republic or the United States; the imports have lowered overall food prices in Haiti, thereby further impoverishing the nation’s struggling farmers and compelling more people to migrate to urban areas.

Two-thirds of all Haitians depend on the agricultural sector, mainly small-scale subsistence farming, and remain vulnerable to damage from frequent natural disasters, exacerbated by the country's widespread deforestation.  Most farms are very small and are worked by their owners. Rural bourgs (market towns) typically include a Roman Catholic church, police barracks, a magisterial court, and a general store, all surrounding a central square. Many farmers concentrate on subsistence crops, including cassava (manioc), plantains and bananas, corn (maize), yams and sweet potatoes, and rice. Some foodstuffs are sold in rural markets and along roads.  A mild arabica coffee is Haiti’s main cash crop.

Services contribute up to one-third of the GDP, nearly as much as the agricultural sector, although services provide only one-tenth the number of jobs as agriculture. The main sources of service-related employment are tourism, national and local government, finance, and trade. The nation’s cultural life, colonial architecture, pristine beaches, and gambling casinos continue to attract visitors, as do Haitian laws permitting quick divorces.

Haiti has a warm, humid tropical climate characterized by diurnal temperature variations that are greater than the annual variations; temperatures are modified by elevation. Average temperatures range from 75 °F (24 °C) in January and February to 83 °F (28 °C) in July and August. The village of Kenscoff, at some 4,700 feet (1,430 metres), has an average temperature of 60 °F (16 °C), whereas Port-au-Prince, at sea level, has an average of 79 °F (26 °C). In winter frost can occur at high altitudes.

With the retreat of natural vegetation, wildlife has lost its habitat and shelter. Wild boars, guinea fowls, and wild ducks are no longer present, but caimans still inhabit rivers of the southern peninsula, and some flamingos are found on Gonâve Island, where they are often hunted. Little has been done to conserve Haiti’s flora and fauna, and no national or regional parks have been established. The lack of conservation measures has been particularly damaging for coral formations and the animal life associated with them.

Haiti’s population has increased fourfold since the early 20th century, although life expectancy has been among the lowest in the world. The rates of birth and infant mortality are high, and roughly two-fifths of the population is under 15 years of age.

Haiti’s death rate is high, mainly owing to the prevalence of infectious and parasitic diseases, diseases of the circulatory system, and conditions associated with malnutrition; moreover, Haiti has a higher incidence of AIDS and a higher infant mortality rate than any other country in the Western Hemisphere. Roughly three-fourths of Haitian households lack running water, and unsafe water—along with inadequate housing and unsanitary living conditions—contributes to the high incidence of infectious diseases. There is a chronic shortage of health care personnel, and hospitals lack resources.

Every year tens of thousands of Haitians attempt to improve their lots by migrating to other countries, notably Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians live in the Dominican Republic, many of them illegally and under semiclandestine conditions. Dominican government programs allow temporary migrants for agricultural work, primarily bracero (cane-cutting) labour and menial jobs. Many Haitians have also migrated to the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. Large numbers of Haitians attempt to enter the United States each year in small and often dangerous boats. The U.S. Coast Guard routinely intercepts such “boat people” and returns them to Haiti, but many others are thought to drown en route to Florida, which is more than 560 miles (900 km) northwest of Haiti. Exile communities have also been established in The Bahamas, Guadeloupe, and Saint-Martin.

The roads from Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haïtien, Les Cayes, and Jacmel have been paved but are not regularly repaired, and city streets are notorious for their deep potholes. Most inland transportation is hampered by rough roads that may become impassable in inclement weather. Trucks and buses offer irregular and costly service from Port-au-Prince to the provincial towns. There are no major railways.

The constitution, which incorporates features of the U.S. and French constitutions, provides for a president, who is both head of state and the nation’s main power holder. The president is directly elected to a five-year term and may stand for one nonconsecutive reelection. The head of government is the prime minister, appointed by the president from among the parliamentary members of the majority political party.

 

 

Cultural life

 

Haitian culture reflects an admixture of French, African, Spanish, and native Indian influences, similar in many respects to the traditions of Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, and Saint Lucia. Port-au-Prince, the centre of Haiti’s cultural and intellectual life, is the site of the National Library (founded 1940), the National Council for Scientific Research (1963), and the most important museums and entertainment facilities.

Haitian towns are hives of informal-sector activity, with small workshops, street markets, and food stalls providing thousands of day-to-day jobs. There is no social security or taxation in this precarious world, and many children are paid near-starvation wages to perform menial tasks. But many Haitians prefer to take their chance in Port-au-Prince’s slums rather than eke out a meagre living from remote hillside farms. In the rural areas the hours are even longer and the money scarcer, because eroded and infertile plots produce barely enough food for subsistence. Most farmers live in small wooden-frame houses with thatched or corrugated-metal roofs that are generally enclosed within a compound of four mud-daubed wattle walls. There is little furniture. Cash surpluses, when they exist, are invested in land, cattle, or voodoo ceremonies or are used to pay the school fees for children. Few farmers have their own means of transportation. Such hardship is far removed from the lifestyle of Haiti’s few wealthy elite, who commute from their cool mountainside villas to air-conditioned offices in costly four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Staple foods include beans, rice, sweet potatoes, bananas and plantains, corn (maize), cassava, and taro (a tropical tuber locally known as malangá). However, many of Haiti’s urban poor have difficulty obtaining basic foodstuffs and adequate amounts of potable water. Whenever resources permit, Haitians prepare food with locally grown spices, including thyme, anise, oregano, black pepper, and cloves. Almost every street corner has a stall selling fritay (fried pieces of pork, fish, or plantain) or shaved ice flavored with sweet cordials.

Haitians do not generally have access to the types of organized recreational activities prevalent in other countries, and sporting facilities are limited. Nevertheless, they celebrate a colorful pre-Lenten Carnival—although perhaps not as elaborately as in other Caribbean nations.